Thursday, December 30, 2010

Newbies' Hummus

Tis the season to party, and continuing with this blog's recent theme of party foods, I'd like to include everyone's favorite dip--hummus.

Anyone who has ever made hummus will tell you the same two things: 1.) It's much easier than you would think, and 2.) There are only about 3,000,000,000 ways to make hummus! Most hummus includes tahini, a ground sesame seed mixture you can find at any grocery store in the world foods aisle, but you can make hummus without that, as demonstrated in these three variations featured on Buzzle, which are similar to the tahini-free hummus I make. Some tasty types of hummus you may want to try are roasted red pepper hummus, cucumber hummus, and jalapeno hummus--or you can just try the easy Buzzle suggestions, which are good starting points for curious first-timers.

Although nearly every hummus recipe you can find on the Internet recommends using canned chickpeas, I actually used a bag of garbanzo beans, which I crushed in the blender. And I used way, way more than the recommended amount of garlic, which was much appreciated by the meat-eating friends who consumed my first batch of hummus. (A general rule of thumb when you're making appetizers: it's nearly impossible to have "too much" garlic.) Hummus is most commonly served with pita bread, but we actually used ours to dip raw veggies in. It's also often served as a scrumptious sandwich spread.

The first time I made this, I served it a small group of friends, who devoured the entire bowl before I had a chance to enjoy my own cooking! And, my boyfriend actually said it was his favorite thing I had made for him. I loved having my friends and boyfriend impressed with my cooking, but, honestly, there was no "cooking" involved. Hummus truly is just made by combining a bunch of ingredients in a blender. But, shhh! Don't tell anybody that. Let them think you're a supreme chef of Middle Eastern food!